There’s a painting that has hung in James Dayson’s home in Whistler since he and his family moved into the Rainbow townhouse in 2016.
Portraying a mountain vista with a cascading waterfall and surrounded by forest, it’s not a particularly unique painting, and Dayson doesn’t believe it to have much monetary value.
But when he heard from a neighbour on Wed., April 21 that his home was on fire, the painting—which used to hang in his grandparents’ home, before they passed away in the mid 2000s—was the first thing that crossed his mind.
“It was definitely a more traditional painting,” Dayson said.
“There wasn’t anything abstract to it, it wasn’t like an impressionist style, so just a basic sort of landscape … [and] obviously every time walking in and out of our place, you would see it.”
Walking into the townhouse and surveying the damage on Thursday morning (and noting the now-bare wall where his grandparents’ painting was once mounted), “I had already kind of resigned myself to the fact that it was gone. I had accepted it in my head,” Dayson said.
But in stark contrast to the disaster zone in the rest of the house, once he made his way into the garage, he found everything just as he had left it—aside from the curious fact that the tailgate to his SUV was now open.
In the back of the vehicle he found his grandparents’ painting, along with others from inside the home, carefully stored, preserved and awaiting his return.
“I was like, ‘I can’t believe that … that is the most amazing thing, that [Whistler Fire Rescue Service members] had that care and thought to save them,’” he said.
When Dayson got a chance to speak with two members of the Whistler Fire Rescue Service (WFRS) who were on scene the night before, he was overcome with emotion.
When the firefighters told him they understand his loss, “I said to them, ‘It’s not about the loss. Virtually all of that can be replaced,’” Dayson said.
“’For me, it’s what you guys did … taking the time to pull this off the walls.’
“It’s just absolutely remarkable that they had that thought to do that, in the middle of dealing with that raging fire that engulfed all of our house.”
The fire on Ashleigh McIvor Drive was reported at 8:10 and knocked down before 9 p.m., said WFRS Chief John McKearney.
“We had it under control probably within 30 minutes, but we were chasing it through the ceiling of (townhouse units four and five),” McKearney said, adding that about 35 paid-on-call firefighters responded to assist four WFRS career staff in responding.
Two people were displaced as a result of the fire, McKearney said.
“The good news is that no firefighters were injured, [and] no civilians were injured,” he said.
The fire started on the balcony of the fourth townhouse before spreading to the fifth, he added.
“It looks like the barbecue malfunctioned … and it caught the cedar siding on fire,” McKearney said.
“It got in behind the cedar siding, behind the rainscreen, climbed up to the roof, and then went into the sofits of the end suite, which was No. 5, and travelled right across the ceiling.”
The fire is a good reminder of the importance of sprinkler systems, particularly on balconies in multi-family structures, McKearney said.
“We’ve seen this time and time again,” he said.
“To be sprinklered is so important, because these two structures, they’re going to be months before they’re habitable.”
For the Daysons, who live full-time in Vancouver, the fire will likely mean a full rebuild—but they’re grateful for the WFRS members who went above and beyond.
“I just wanted to share the story, because especially in today’s day and age with everything that’s going on in the world, I think any really good, positive news needs to be shared,” he said.
“And especially for firefighters that do so much for our society, wherever they are.”
